Pte Frederick Arthur Fensome, 2553, 16th Battalion (Public Schools) Middlesex Regiment, died in France on March 10th, 1917, following wounds received on the battlefield. He was aged 20 and was serving in the machine gun section.

He had been in France for 12 months and was in action on March 2nd. He sent a field card to his mother Elizabeth (Lizzie) at 33 Inkerman Street, Luton, in which he said he had been wounded in the knee by a gun shot and taken to a clearing station [2/2nd London Casualty Clearing Station] behind the lines.

L-Cpl Edwin Granville Harvey, 14925, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme at Longueval on July 24th, 1916. He was aged 21.

He had joined the Colours on September 4th, 1914, and went to France the following April. He was gassed at Hill 60 and blown up by a mine in November 1915, requiring eight weeks of hospital treatment. After 15 months in the trenches he was killed by a shell while serving his Lewis gun.

Pte Herbert Graves, 20098, 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 1st, 1916. He was aged 25.

A memorial service for him was held at Breachwood Green Baptist Church on July 23rd, 1916, after one of his chums from Darley Hall said in a letter home that Pte Graves had failed to answer the usual roll-call three times in succession. His death was recorded in a list of Beds Regiment casualties issued on July 26th.

Prominent Luton athlete Sgt Percy Edward Rickard, 3/8141, 7th Bedfords, was killed instantly while in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme - July 1st, 1916.

Well before official confirmation was received, parents William and Lucy Rickard, of 45 Crawley Road, Luton, had had letters from comrades who saw him fall.

Rifleman Arthur Thomas Mahon, 301057, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), was killed in action on July 1st, 1916, at the age of 19. Born in Aberdeen, he was the son of the Rev Edward Mahon, Pastor of King Street Congregational Church, Luton, and Mrs Agnes Catherine Mahon, of 48 Napier Road, Luton.

Pte Stanley Walter Fensome, 15296, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on July 1st, 1916. He was aged 20 and the eldest son of Luton bootmaker Mr Walter Fensome and his wife Elizabeth, of 63-65 Duke Street, High Town.

The sad news for his family was contained in a letter from the Wesleyan Chaplain to the battalion, the Rev G. Jarvis Smith. He said Stanley was killed in action on the Saturday morning and he had found his body soon after the battle was over. Stanley was given a Christian burial and the spot where he fell had been carefully marked.

Pte Frank Herbert Lewin (Lowin*), 5349, 5th Bedfords, died in hospital in Egypt on June 28th, 1916, a few days after being admitted suffering from heat stroke. He was aged 35 and was familiarly known as "Larry".

Born in October 1880, he was the son of the late Solomon and Mary Ann Lowin. He married Amelia (nee Watson) in 1901, his wife and eight children - seven aged under 14 - living at 33 Brunswick Street, Luton.

Pte Joseph Henry Woollard, 14307, D Company, 6th Bedfordshire Regiment, died on June 26th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action the previous morning near Arras. He was aged 22.

The Stopsley-born son of Mr and Mrs Joseph Woollard, of 57 Lyndhurst Road, Luton, he had been employed as a clerk by Messrs Lye & Sons, New Bedford Road, for whom he had worked from the age of 14.

After enlisting, he went to France on August 11th, 1915, and came home on seven days leave in May 1916 before returning to his fate at the Front.

Pte Albert Stratton, 3/10395, 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 2nd, 1916. He was born in High Town in 1877.

The son of the late Arthur and Sarah Stratton, of Back Street, the former iron moulder had served in the Grenadier Guards for 12 years before re-enlisting with the Northants Regiment in August 1914. He returned to serve in the firing line in France for a second time in April 1916.

Pte Sidney Thomas Fleckney, 13164, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in the front line at Arras on June 4th, 1916. He had at first been reported missing by the War Office.

Born on April 4th, 1893, he was the son of the late George (died 1915) and Hannah (died 1906) Fleckney, of Mangrove Green, and he had been living with a married sister at Mangrove, near Luton.

Pte Sidney George Higgins, 19752, 8th Bedfordshire Regiment, died on April 25th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action at Poperinghe that day. He was aged 36 and had enlisted in February 1915.

The son of Elizabeth and the late John Higgins, of Islington, he was born in 1879. In 1907 he married Mabel Richardson, from Dunstable, and in the 1911 Census they were living in Southampton, Sidney as a butcher's shop manager. By then Sidney and Mabel had two children, a girl aged two and a boy (also named Sidney George) aged one.

Pte Frederick Thomas Sharp, 3/8705, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Ypres on April 19th, 1916. He was aged 29 and the father of six children.

Pte Sharp, of 21 Essex Street, Luton, joined the colours in October 1914 and was drafted to the Western Front in October 1915. He fought at Ypres, Messines and Vimy Ridge and was gassed in December 1915. On recovery he returned to the trenches.

He formerly worked as an iron moulder at the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road. He was also well-known in athletics circles and was a harrier.

Pte Victor Charles Groome, 6/1042, 4th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action in France on May 25th, 1915. He had been reported missing, but it was a year later before his death was confirmed.

Pte Groome was born in Luton towards the end of 1888, the son of Hermon and Martha Louise Groome, who in 1891 were living at 72 Lea Road, Luton. Mr Groome died at the age of 71 in 1912 after working at Hayward Tyler's for 36 years and being married for 45 years.

Cpl Sydney Francis Waring, 4083, who was wounded in the 1/5th Bedfords charge at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915, died in the 2nd Eastern General Hospital, Brighton, on March 26th, 1916, following a second operation. He was aged 31 and left widow May and two children living at 26 Elizabeth Street, Luton.

Before the war he was employed at Messrs J. C. Kershaw and Co's hat warehouse in George Street, and was a well-known cricketer who had been in the cricket team that won the Luton and District League in 1914.

Colin Campbell Daniels was born in Salford, Lancashire in 1894, the eldest of three children born to William Robert and Lily.

In 1901 he is seven years old and living at 52 Old Lane, Chadderton, Oldham, Lancashire. His father is working as a weighing machine fitter and his mother is at home looking after Colin, his five-year-old sister Edith and his two-year-old brother William.